IDEP Helping Aceh Victims Rebuild their Lives

The Indonesian Development of Education and
Permaculture (IDEP) Foundation was one of the first
organizations to rapidly respond in the tsunami-affected
region of Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

Since the devastating
December 26, 2004 earthquake, the organization has
distributed over US $500,000 in aid and sent 200
international volunteers and staff to work on the ground in
both the response and ongoing disaster recovery phases.

To help the displaced Aceh survivors rebuild their
lives, IDEP -- an Indonesian non-profit non-governmental
organization (NGO) that began in 1998 at the height of
Indonesia’s severe financial and social crisis – is working
on the long-term recovery phase through programs targeting
the critical needs.

Below is a summary of programs
IDEP has initiated over the past year as part of Banda
Aceh’s ongoing tsunami recovery efforts.

Disaster
Relief via the Endless Sun

In the first weeks
following the disaster, IDEP partnered with other Asian NGOs
to actively deliver relief supplies via the Endless Sun – a
wooden, 40 meter, 700 ton custom-made shallow draft boat
that brought aid to inaccessible, worst hit areas in
Aceh.

The series of 12-week voyages delivered building
materials, self-sufficiency items such as brick presses,
mechanical, carpentry and fishing implements. The Endless
Sun had delivered 87 tons of rice donated by the World Food
Program to four isolated communities in Nias before it
struck an uncharted coral reef and sunk.

Miraculously,
all 20 of the crew and volunteers survived. Even more
miraculous is that about 80% of the onboard aid was
salvaged.

In
Samatiga, one of the hardest hit suburbs, IDEP has three
inter-related programs:

1. the provision of health
services and health training;

2. sustainable livelihoods
technology; and

3. community management disaster
training.

IDEP built a modest bamboo clinic and
counseling center where thousands of patients have been
treated and given primary medical care and informal stress
counseling. Serving some 1,500 patients a month, this clinic
was built hastily in February to meet the post-tsunami
needs.

As soon as funding is available, IDEP will
build a Community Centre with a classroom, library, kitchen,
staff quarters, toilets and a children's playground.

The
Greenhand Field School Project

Another Aceh Recovery
Program is the Greenhand Field School Project, a center
where people from tsunami-affected areas obtain practical
training in a live-in model village. Located 50 kilometers
outside Banda Aceh, the school will provide instruction in
food security systems.

The trainees, half of whom are
women, will be taught such skills as sustainable village
design principles, water and sanitation strategies, home
garden food production, animal husbandry, year-round food
security, small enterprise development, natural resource
development, ecological repair and maintenance, shelter
design and construction with found materials.

Local
Disaster Preparedness Training

A well managed and
prepared community is a key factor in saving lives and
reducing suffering and loss of resources. To disseminate
practical information, IDEP has developed a comprehensive,
community-based disaster management (CBDM) kit for use in
villages throughout Indonesia.

The simple kit contains
a practical planning and action manual with over 50
practical self-help forms, 2 colored posters, 8 disaster
comics and a community awareness leaflet. Communities can
get practical information for saving lives and preserving
infrastructure in the event of a natural or socially sparked
disaster.

Pilot testing projects with local communities
at the grass roots level

Developing models for micro
credit cooperative programs

Constructing working
demonstrations of small-scale organic food production and
appropriate technology for waste management and wastewater
treatment

Developing eco-literacy

Sharing knowledge
through local NGO networks

Conducting media training &
supporting local NGOs

Although IDEP has achieved much
international and local support, generous donations from
individuals, companies and foundations worldwide, it still
needs more for the Aceh programs to run for 2 to 3 more
years.

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